Maternal Mortality : Report June, 1932
1932-06 1932 1930s 20 pages Ministry of Health so satisfactory that they have extended the service to complicated cases. One interesting feature is to be found in the increase of the fees paid under the Midwives Acts to doctors by the Local Authorities. For example, the Medical Officer for Worceste...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : The Maternal Mortality Committee
June 1932
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/1C2C0830-849C-4B48-8FC4-14736E28ED06 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/B56EF0CC-C72C-4C76-90DC-5B6BD80E8829 |
| Summary: | 1932-06
1932
1930s
20 pages
Ministry of Health so satisfactory that they have extended the service to complicated cases. One interesting feature is to be found in the increase of the fees paid under the Midwives Acts to doctors by the Local Authorities. For example, the Medical Officer for Worcester chronicles an advance from £537 paid in 1926 to £1,282 in 1929. Opinions of the Local Authorities vary as to the marked increase of appeals by midwives under the rules of the Central Midwives Board to doctors, and it may be that in some cases the midwife's knowledge that the doctors' fees are now secure in necessitous cases encourages a tendency to too early recourse to medical aid. THE INSTITUTION OF AN IMPROVED AND COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL MATERNITY SERVICE Hospital Accommodation. In our survey of the powers which the Local Authorities can operate, we note that there is a great need for further development for Maternity Homes or beds in Maternity Hospitals. It will be remembered that the Ministry of Health, in urging the provision of maternity beds, gives instances of a remarkable reduction in maternal mortality as the result of proper supervision of confinements. We have laid stress on the fact that where the powers are efficiently and adequately used, they are welcomed by the working mothers. It is noticeable that there is an apparent increase in the number of beds. The position seems definitely much better in this particular, and has been greatly affected by the Local Government Act amongst other factors. Where a Local Authority has taken over a Public Assistance Hospital there has almost invariably been an effort to provide new, or improve existing facilities for maternity cases. We have included these beds in the figures where they are definitely stated to be reserved for maternity work. The position is probably better than appears from the reports as regards smaller towns within reach of large cities as, particularly for septic cases, the reports frequently refer to "arrangements in force," "available beds when necessary" in the voluntary hospitals or large infirmaries in these places. Conditions appear to be worst in medium size towns in more or less isolated positions. There are many comments, however, in the Medical Officers' Reports which show that maternity beds are still insufficiently or inadequately supplied. Holland (Lincolnshire) notes the urgency for the provision of beds for complicated cases or for normal cases in which for some reason the conditions for confinement at home are unsuitable, and East Suffolk emphasises the need for the development of Maternity Homes. The Medical Officer says "It would be a great advantage if every woman whose medical record or home (16)
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |